War Crimes Investigator Dossier

You do your best thinking and planning in the law library at Georgetown University in Washington, surrounded by legal books. You know you won’t find that setting on this ship, but the Exec might lend you his quarters.

• You are to take the role of master sleuth (investigator) and use whatever means necessary to discover hidden information related to the mission.
  
• You are to be in continued contact with the other members of your team, but you may have to leave them at times to conduct your own covert activities.
  
• When you rejoin them, you must learn what they have learned and share what you have discovered so that you can keep the team on track in term of proof that is admissible in court.

You turn the page and learn that Operation Eyewitness is to collect evidence of persecution of the Jews in Nazi occupied Europe. The four of you are to deliver the team’s final one to two page report directly to President Roosevelt—for his eyes only. As the war progresses, FDR needs information which he can use to persuade Churchill and Stalin of the need for immediate action on Berlin. He believes Operation Eyewitness will be valuable in providing some of that information.

You take a deep breath. You thought you were ready; now you wonder. You’ve heard the rumors about persecution and death camps. Now it’s your job to get proof.

• Are crimes against humanity being committed against the Jews?
• What evidence can you find to prove or disprove the allegation?
• What arguments and proof will convince the President in a brief report?

You turn to the next page to get background information which you will share with your team members at a group briefing tonight at 1900 hours.

Your skin crawls as you finish reading. Your military watch reads 1855. You rush to meet the other members of Operation Eyewitness in your stateroom.